Story of the Kaaba

1. The kaaba is also called, Baitullah, the House of Allah. Muslim tradition goes that the Kaaba was ordained by Allah to be built in the shape of the House in Heaven called "Baitul Ma'amoor". Prophet Adam is said to be the first to build this place.

2. Before Muhammad appeared, the Kaaba was surrounded by 360 idols, and every Arab house had its god. Arabs also believed in jinn (subtle beings), and some vague divinity with many offspring. Among the major deities of the pre-Islamic era were al-Lat ("the Goddess"), worshiped in the shape of a square stone; al-Uzzah ("the Mighty"), a goddess identified with the morning star and worshiped as a thigh-bone-shaped slab of granite between al Talf and Mecca; Manat, the goddess of destiny, worshiped as a black stone on the road between Mecca and Medina; and the moon god, Hubal, whose worship was connected with the Black Stone of the Kaaba. The stones were said to have fallen from the sun, moon, stars, and planets and to represent cosmic forces. The so-called Black Stone that Muslims revere today is the same one that their forebears had worshiped well before Muhammad and that they believed had come from the moon.

The kaaba is an ordinary stone, by some believed to be a meteorite. Look at this islamic narration.

Narrated Salim that his father said: I saw Allah's Apostle arriving at Mecca; he kissed the Black Stone Corner first while doing Tawaf and did ramal in the first three rounds of the seven rounds (of Tawaf). (Sahih al-Bukhari 2:673)

Narrated 'Abis bin Rabia: 'Umar came near the Black Stone and kissed it and said "No doubt, I know that you are a stone and can neither benefit anyone nor harm anyone. Had I not seen Allah's Apostle kissing you I would not have kissed you." (Sahih al-Bukhari 2:667, 675, 676, 679, 680). It is a known fact that Muhammed fir\tst Qibla was Jerusalem. After the Jewish refused to accept him as a prophet it is said that Allah ordered him to change the Qibla.

A. If Kaaba is as what Muslims believe, the "house of Allah", the copy of which is in heaven, why did Allah abandoned it and asks Muhammed to pray towards Jerusalem and then again retracts the decision and orders him to pray towards kabba. Why did Allah choose Jerusalem , even though there was no mosque in Jersalem at time time?!

B. The Jewish people respect Prophet Abraham as their Patriarcal father. While the Jewish people were escaping from Egypt and going to the Promised land through the wilderness, they never went or passed to Mecca to worship or pray, in the place where their father Abraham is supposed to have built the house. There is no historical evidence that shows that the Israelites went and prayed or served at Kaaba. Even there is no historical evidence or hint that shows that of all ancient prophets, no one, NOT A SINGLE ANCIENT PROPHET who prayed or worshiped the Kaaba. The story of Kaaba as the "house of Allah", the copy of which is also in Heaven is a mythological story developed only after the advent of Muhammed. Jesus never asked his followers to worship the Holy grail or Shroud of Turin or anyother object. But Muhammed kissed and worshipped the kaaba and ordered every Muslim to do that.

Best regards, Don.

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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".